THE STRUCTURAL CHARACTERIZATION OF BUCKMINSTERFULLERENE COMPOUNDS

The chemistry of buckminsterfullerene (C60) is in its infancy and an understanding of the principles for the preparation of pure C60 derivatives of known addition pattern and C60 materials of known composition is necessary for its development. Single crystal X-ray diffraction is a powerful tool for the determination of the structures of C60 compounds, five examples of which are described here. C60 is brominated by Br2 in a variety of solvents to give either C60Br6 or C60Br8, depending upon the particular solvent used. Crystals Of C60Br6.Br2.CCl4 (1), C60Br6.2Br2 (2), and C60Br8.2Br2 (3) were obtained from CCl4, C6H6, and CS2 respectively. Slow evaporation of C6H6 solutions of C60 gives crystals of C60.4C6H6 (4). Mixing of saturated C6H6 solutions of C60 and ferrocene gives a dark red solution from which crystals Of C60.2ferrocene (5) are deposited.